Concrete Jungle
by sonflour
Summary: A young woman tries to maintain her life and secrets, all while resisting the dangerous advances of her demon boss. Reposted because of viewing problems.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Its one hundred and sixty years in the future and the corporate world is a killer. Literally. Demon control now powerfully permeates the existence of mankind in spite of the human figureheads present to placate the race. Within this setting, a troubled young woman tries her best to make a living, all while avoiding the dangerously attractive sexual advances of her demon boss.

Chapter 1 Ain't Nothin Goin On but the Rent

No one needed to know just how dire her situation was. She was three months late on her rent and she would be spending the last of her money on her utilities today.

It was not as if she did not have a job. Indeed, she worked for a highly reputable corporation that dealt with the consolidation of power for the Western Lands. There was an overwhelming need for those companies, as the time when humans reigned on earth was long gone.

Because humans had been so busy fighting amongst themselves, it was painfully easy for the demon world to rise to power. Jordan overheard one human woman berating another small pretty woman with glasses and long red hair for a handsome demon's interest her. The shy girl looked utterly miserable. Jordan's disdain for showing emotions wouldn't allow for any pity towards the weak creature. The shy girl heaved a shuddery and somewhat tearful sigh as the spiteful shrew supervisor sauntered arrogantly away.

Jordan frowned inwardly. Why the small redhead allowed such disrespect was far beyond Jordan's understanding. Such cowardice only invited more cruelty. Had it been her in Ayame's shoes, she would have taken Yura: the slut, into the bathroom and calmly snapped off all ten of her fingers. Then she would have stuffed them all down her throat, and would still have had time for a late lunch. Indeed, their bitch of a supervisor wasn't even a demon. She was merely a some human slut who was jealous of their demon superior's attentions.

And it seemed as though some things never changed.

Demons played on such human weakness like vice and jealousy and it took no more than a decade of both sophisticated politics and brutal suppression from demons to become the undisputed leaders of the world. Most denied the existence of these powerful creatures until the very end. Others simply saw little hope. Thus, they gave up before they even began to fight.

Rather than enforce direct rule over the weaker race, demons were content to leave them to their affairs. Thus, provided that the human race always remember who was truly in power, they were allowed to keep their figurehead rulers and in this way, demons and humans lived in uneasy coexistence.

Yes, human rule had gone and gone with it was the need for sly and secret attempts to gain world power through subtle means, such as wealth or technological sophistication. With the domination of demons, it was made clear that only the strongest survived and ruled. Strength was the sole foundation of power. Other wants such as wealth, came only as a result of one's power. Money was no longer enough to lead one it.

Indeed, to rely on such to bring one power was dangerously considered a weakness. Many weaker demons had been disposed of (oftentimes, promptly at the major power business meetings) for attempting to use such means as a way of threatening other powerful demons. After all, what good was wealth when you are dead? Thus, the strongest lands were run by the strongest demons: individuals or clans whose power was so formidable, it could wipe out a small nation if provoked.

It just so happened that Jordan worked for one of these powerful corporations. WesternTaiyoukai was by far one of the most powerful corporations in the world. It had a number of specialists from biology to warfare weaponry. Thus, one would assume that Jordan would have no problems making ends meet as an employee of such an institution. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

These days, humans were paid far less than demons. Such a policy was the result of demonkinds' perpetual disregard for the human race. After all, it isn't too wise to give too much money to children. They would only squander it meaninglessly. By operating under that premise, demons justified the significantly lower wages humans received.

To add insult to injury, prices rose tremendously, as a result of the change to demon currency. Moreover, prices rose because the value of items rose. More and more work was being put into goods to emphasize longevity. This better suited the long lifespan of demon consumers and it helped demonkind undo some of the hurt humans had inflicted upon the land as a result of their wasteful nature.

_Foreveria an locatious Earthius._ This Earth will last forever.

Consequently, the quick demon mind was swift to delve into the scientific realm to search for substances one could use that would be durable enough to withstand centuries of use, all while avoiding the human tendency of stripping the land of its much needed natural resources. Moreover, because demons did not have the difficulty humans had with reconciling science with spirituality, they combined some of the most powerful elements of both in many areas. One astounding example of this was the infusion of demon youki into common goods. Such energy ensured the prolonged existence of the object. This ultimately led to a tremendous rise in the prices of common, everyday items.

Needless to say, jobs were hard to find. Although there were many who could seemingly be trained to manipulate youki power to specialize for employment opportunities, many more were still too spiritually closed to accomplish such feats. Thus, much potential was wasted and many humans struggled in this cruel new world.

As harder times dawned on humanity, it seemingly sold its soul so to speak. Humanity paradoxically became the very thing the demon race accused it of being: depraved. Consequently, nearly every reliable (or at one time) honest job came into the jurisdiction of crime lords and other unsavory characters. Those opposed to such conditions were killed and others sought employment within the demon businesses, where you might be afforded some protection, if you proved yourself to be a valuable asset.

However, one need not mention many opportunities for long term employment within the demon world. Few humans rarely earned the respect of demons enough to remain safely in their positions for long, and many human employees were often disposed of on the spot for any insubordination ranging from "attempts" at physical aggression to even the most minor verbal responses. Because demons did not have emotions, they were highly unsympathetic to any outbursts resulting from them.

Thus, it was within this setting that Jordan worked as one of the rare human beings who could draw on demon youki and manipulate it. Even more rare was the fact that she could do so even if the demon was unwilling. In short, she could injure and kill a demon with his own power- and she had done so many times.

Yet, no one needed to know that either. Besides, none of that mattered because 1.) she lived in a tiny, yet expensive ant demon apartment colony, and 2.) her wages at WesternTaiyoukai were only enough to pay for rent and two other bills. Consequently, Jordan was one of many humans who were struggling economically.

She looked around. WesternTaiyoukai had hundreds of employees that were both demon and human, and it boasted a great deal of diversity from both races.

A flourished gesture of the Japanese female supervisor caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Jordan covertly glanced over from beneath her long black eyelashes. Following the flamboyant movement of her hand, the female let out a high pitched laugh in response to a joke that had been told by the darkly handsome executive wolf demon, Kouga. He escorted Yura up the stairs to his office and the door was promptly shut. Jordan winced at the sound of her irritating laugh and bluntly reflected on what would probably happen now.

They would probably fuck now.

Jordan raised a dark eyebrow at herself as her thoughts seemed to have lingered on that option. She promptly shook the thought out of her head. She was aware that many human females made up for their lesser wages by offering sexual services to demon bosses. It probably explained why she seemed to be the only one at her job struggling with bills. It seemed that everyone else had found a way to supplement their income—by any means necessary.

In any case, despite her meager earnings, Jordan considered it her duty to do her job as efficiently as possible. But, she couldn't be too good at it or she would attract the attention of others. For two years now, she'd worked at this company and she did her job. Nothing more, and nothing less. She didn't make friends. She didn't hold conversations with anyone, much less the demon workers. She certainly didn't invite any romantic attentions, and her persona helped her with her deliberate avoidance of social interactions. At best she was know to be a loner. At worse, she had never ever blinked when some muttered "bitch" under their breath. Let them think what they want, as long as they didn't lose whatever little sanity they had, and attempt to attack, she was fine. Had she always been so defensive? She answered the question with a definite wry "yes." And it paid to be in this world. Sometimes it could mean the difference between life or a miserable death. She didn't have time to engage in trivial relationships. Instead she directed her primary fa

Thus, all in all her two years at WesternTaiyoukai had been lonely and uneventful—and that was exactly the way she wanted it. She'd been able to miraculously manage her own expenses on her meager paycheck and she'd never needed to rely on anyone else, or deal with the debts that always came with contingency. Even if it meant going hungry every now and again. And yet, with the recent 30 youk raise in her colonies' already ridiculous rent, Jordan was beginning to wonder if it was time to make some new friends…

A moan came from Kouga's office.

Then again, homelessness might definitely have its perks.

Author's Notes:

Okay, I took economics six centuries ago and so my evaluation of inflation when changing currencies might be a little mucked up. If we've got some economists in the house, please stand up.

1 youk6 dollars

Also, I'm so sorry for the people who originally read this fic and were rendered blind because of the messed up format. As I said before, I'm in Japan and I know very little about computers. I saw Microsoft Word and I went to work. Thus, I had no idea how crazy it looked… and the preview I saw in was fine before I uploaded it. Gosh! I would like to extend a huge thank you to the people who reviewed and told me about it. I would have never known. (Runs up to those individuals and gives them a huge bear hug…)

Anyway, the story is here and all criticism is appreciated.

I've read stories with Sesshy in the business setting and I've always been intrigued by that. I mean, you've got to admit, he'd probably kick ass in the corporate world. I think I want to explore Sesshy's intelligence in this fic. You know quiet ones are always very perceptive. I'd also like to delve into perhaps some of his philosophical views on power.

Also, I hope you will enjoy my original character. She's got some issues she'll have to deal with…especially when she comes into contact with a certain arrogant dog demon.

Her pride will be her biggest problem, and she has a habit of being very cut and dry. This characteristic will give her numerous problems in this crazy world.

Enjoy.

(Oh yeah, if anybody is still looking for an update to "All You Wanted" in the Cowboy Bebop section…it's coming soon. No, really…it is!)

D


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Okay, if I really owned Inuyasha, I mean really….would I be at writing for the fickle reward of reviews…

Nope I didn't think so either. In any case, no. I don't own Inuyasha.

What the Day Brings

Sesshoumaru looked down from his office. It was deliberately situated a full 5 floors above the main office where everyone bustled about busily. From his perch, he could observe his workers inconspicuously. Though he spoke rarely to them, he prided himself on his awareness of all that went on in his corporation.

The stench of sweat and sex assaulted his nose. It had to be another one of Kouga's sexcapades. He'd beaten the stupid mongrel bloody the last time for his unprofessional lack of control over a certain part of his anatomy. However, Kouga enjoyed a good fight and apparently the idiot thought that being beaten within every inch of his life was more an honor, than it was a punishment. To be utterly truthful, Sesshoumaru could have cared less whether his workers had an all out orgy, as long as they got their work done. But, Kouga's dick had dangerously complicated matters when he'd thoughtlessly seduced, or was seduced by a young lion demoness from under LionCorp's protection.

Kouga had been physically challenged by a powerful lion demon at the last international powerhouse meeting of the world's major demon powers. Of course everyone at the meeting had known that the sultry, beautiful young kitten had wanted Kouga, but the affair was made complex by the kitten's close relation to the CEO and leader of LionCorp, stationed in Cape Town, South Africa. The young demoness, Liyah, was the sister and chief advisor of the powerful lion demon CEO of LionCorp, Victor. When he'd learned of the not so untruthful rumors of Liyah being fucked into oblivion in Kouga's office at WesternTaiyoukai, Victor had threatened to close off its weaponry materials trading with Sesshoumaru's company, and the transferring of its valuable human youkai handlers inherent to that important trade.

Because of the spiritual openness of many of the humans in the African culture, some of the most powerful youkai handlers had their origins there. In exchange for their cooperation with the company, LionCorp offered jobs and security to its human employees, as well as competitive wages. Consequently, humans flocked from all over the world to come work and live in the Cape Town area. Thus, Victor's company, while initially slow in growth, was fast on its way to becoming a major clan of power.

Many years after the beginning of the reign of demon control, the lion demon clan had been weak and divided by attacks from other demon clans and spiritualists. However, under Victor's rigid control and shrewd calculations, the past century had seen a steady rise in the growth of the lion clan. Presently, LionCorp, only 30 years old, was competing for its place among the other world demon powers. And with the stupidity of actions like Kouga's, Victor's clan was much closer to winning their fight.

While Victor did indeed love his sister and was very protective of her, he had not taken her affair with the stupid wolf demon as a personal insult. Liyah was quite powerful in her own right and he had little to no control over her. Thankfully, she was of the same mind and while she was quite promiscuous, she was too smart to ever let her outside activities negatively affect their empire. However, he knew an opportunity when he saw one and this was an opportunity to gain Sesshoumaru's respect. By playing Liyah and Kouga's affair as a personal insult, Victor knew he was well within the right's of demon law to challenge Kouga. He bargained on his insight into Sesshoumaru's character and played on the assumption that the dog demon would not let the wolf demon die. This turned out to be quite true and Victor's threat to disrupt trade between LionCorp and WesternTaiyoukai had given him invaluable information on Sesshoumaru's character all while making other powerful demon companies acknowledge just how indispensable LionCorp's link to WesternTaiyoukai was.

While most relations between demon lands and companies were cutthroat at best (quite literally), WesternTaiyoukai and LionCorp shared a rather peaceful relationship based on mutual respect and need. Victor was no fool and could easily recognize power, and Sesshoumaru had it in bounds. His own previous dealings with the arrogant dog demon had proven Sesshoumaru to be intelligent and honorable, even if he did have a stick the size of that outrageous dog sword stuck up his ass. Victor knew that the dog demon had long ago resigned himself to his companies' dependence on LionCorp's youkai handlers and Victor's workers had no problems thus far working at WesternTaiyoukai thanks to Sesshoumaru being too smart to let his intense dislike of humans cripple his company by attempting to manage without their weak yet significant skills.

Likewise, if Sesshoumaru considered Victor to be an arrogant, calculating, pompous bastard, he still nonetheless respected him for his fierce determination and supreme intelligence. The stubborn lion demon had more than proven his skills as a formidable fighter, as well as a keen intellectual business competitor. More than a few reports had gotten back to Sesshoumaru from his workers stationed at LionCorp's main headquarters in Cape Town, about how loyal Victor was to his workers, both human and demon. Moreover, although Sesshoumaru did need LionCorp's handlers to teach his own demon youkai handlers how to control their dangerous energy, Victor had thus far been smart enough not to try and use that little fact to weaken WesternTaiyoukai in any fashion, even though the latest challenge was pushing it. All of these facts about the lion leader made him somewhat tolerable to Sesshoumaru and that was saying a lot for the aloof dog demon.

Thus, Sesshoumaru had been more inclined to allow Victor's little power play against his idiot of an executive slide. Victor knew that no harm would come to WesternTaiyoukai's reputation. A fact that was validated when Sesshoumaru willing answered to Victor's accusation of insult against his demon clan's name for Kouga's actions. Indeed, Sesshoumaru assured all representatives of the major demon power's meeting that he would see that his worker was severely punished for his indiscretion. And then he promptly proceeded to beat Kouga lifeless in the middle of the conference. As Kouga was unconscious for the remainder of the meeting and left in a steadily growing puddle of his blood, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Sesshoumaru was always good on his word. Thus, no true harm was done. However, Sesshoumaru would not be played again. And that meant putting a certain mutt in heat on a very short leash.

Sesshoumaru turned away from the huge glass window of and spoke out the name of his young secretary into the vast space of his office.

"Inoue…"

A dark haired young female with two snow white dog ears on top of her head appeared in a translucent screen in the middle of his office.

" Hey Sesshy, did ya need something?" Mirth lighted her brown eyes as she not so subtly relished yet another chance to grate on the haughty demon's nerves.

Sesshoumaru gave her look and replied.

"Yes, get me the mutt you lower beings refer to as Kouga and a reason as to why you so sincerely wish for me to end your miserable life painfully because of your perpetual failure to address me properly."

The young demoness was the quarter-breed spawn of his stupid half-breed brother, Inuyasha. In addition to inheriting those ridiculous ears, the young demoness, Inoue, had also seemingly been cursed with the same foolish crassness and boorishness that her father possessed in unlimited amounts.

"I'll have him see you right away, Sesshy, ahem, I mean, Sesshy-sama." She smiled sweetly at him and the window in his office shimmered away before he could form another caustic reply, all while leaving him to contemplate the infinite drawbacks of being merciful with blatant insubordination.

However, in spite of her many faults, Inoue was smart and highly perceptive to his moods, a trait he was more than certain she inherited solely from her mother's side of the family, because Inuyasha didn't have a smart, much less perceptive atom in his entire existence. Such qualities made her an unlikely, yet convenient confidant because he found it dangerously tedious to have discussions with others who were too stupid to participate in any discussion without elaborate explanation and repetition. And Sesshoumaru did not like to repeat himself.

Speaking of stupidity and what would undoubtedly be a situation where Sesshoumaru would definitely have to repeat himself, his acute senses discerned the lingering odors of sex mingled with nervousness, punctuated by small doses of fear that steadily increased the closer a certain wolf-demon got to his door. He smiled wickedly. While, merely looking at the inferior mongrel would be a type of self-punishment, he could surely take some pleasure out of mentally, if not physically torturing Kouga for his inability to resist a good fuck at the office.

"You can enter, I can smell you from the other side of my door," Sesshoumaru replied.

Kouga came in and laughed nervously while attempting to adjust his tie and smooth out his rumbled shirt.

"Did you need something, Sesshoumaru?" He cursed his traitor of a voice for squeaking ever so slightly at the end of the inquiry.

"I have a question and I want you to answer it truthfully," Sesshoumaru replied calmly.

Inwardly, Kouga let out a breath of relief. He probably simply forgotten a report.

"Would you be of more useful and efficient to me without your manhood?" Sesshoumaru deadpanned.

Simultaneously, Kouga's outward smirk disappeared and Sesshoumaru's inward grin grew.

"Whattaya- Yes! I mean…No! Please!" Kouga desperately stuttered.

"So you would not be of much use to me either way." Sesshoumaru replied, acting as if he was musing to himself. "I should simply kill and replace you."

"NO!" Kouga shouted. "Come on," he whined. It was only a little rut in his office and it wasn't as if he'd been able to cum before that bastard had completely ruined his hard on by callin for him. The uptight ass sure had bitchin timing.

"Ya know, Sessh, if you would get a little more action, maybe you'd loosen up a bit. Eh..eh…" Kouga was grinning now. There was no real harm done. All he'd wanted was to get a piece of Yura's hot, juicy a-.

"Attention mutt!" Sesshoumaru growled dangerously, before lowering his voice back down to its silken tone. "I'm inclined to overlook your pathetic need to live vicariously through my sex life just this once, as you will not have much of one in the near future."

Kouga chuckled nervously.

"Whaddaya mean Sesshy…ahem…Sesshoumaru." He quickly corrected the demon's name. Now was definitely not the time to ease Sesshoumaru into his hated nickname coined by his mischievous niece.

"I'm simply referring to your castration. I'll see if your productivity increases in the next few months, minus the very part of your body that causes me the most nuisance, and if not I'll simply do away with you and replace you." Sesshoumaru was studying his claws now, unfazed by the sweating mutt trembling in front of him.

"Ok, alright. I get the point. No more sex in the office. Sheesh!" Kouga shook his head.

"See that it doesn't happen again, mutt." Sesshoumaru replied icily with dismissal obvious in his tone. He noted the wolf demon's slumped shoulders as he left and smirked inwardly. Problem solved.

Kouga scowled all the way back to his main office, but waited until he was well out of Sesshoumaru's famous sensory range, to let out a frustrated curse. The tight ass bastard had sent for him just as he was a thrust away from cumming all in Yura's hot and juicy cunt. How Sesshoumaru was able to smell him fucking from 5 floors up, boggled Kouga's mind.

"Fuck!" Kouga yelled, steaming as he stepped off the elevator.

Ice prick was probably still mad at him for the incident with the hot little lioness from LionCorp. But hell, that kitty had known exactly what she'd been askin for when she'd come into his office all prim and arrogant. Dangerous curves encased in rich cinnamon brown skin and mahogany eyes had shown with an arrogantly challenging glint. Jet black hair braided in tiny little braids in a complex fashion of her clan ended past her shoulders was tied in a coiled bun at the back of her neck and showcased a beautiful face with full lips that housed a perpetual smirk at his almost immediate attraction to her.

Liyah was head of foreign representatives for her brother's company, LionCorps, a demon corporation that was steadily becoming the leading supplier of the human youkai handlers to companies world wide. Because demon energy was so powerful, only the strongest demons with the most control and restraint over their powers could withstand interacting with the energy and the majority of these individuals could only do so for short amounts of time. Demons had to have immaculate control over their own violent natures, as well as, their powerful youkai, lest they risk going mad in demon blood craze or succumbing to violence of their raw youkai energy, the latter of which resulted in a rather painful death from energy combustion.

However, only the stronger demons suffered from such drawbacks inherent to the demon race, as the weaker demons did not have enough youkai energy to have to deal with such inconveniences. The weaker demons, thus relied on their superior senses and physical strength to reign over their human subordinates.

Because stronger demons had a potent source of powerful energy at their fingertips, they relentlessly searched for ways to harness their powers for their own profits and for the sake of their demon population. After all, if the humans only had to contend with the physical prowess of the lower demons' powers in the initial violent encounters between humanity and demonkind, humans could have changed the tides of the conflict in their favor.

Yet, the enhanced senses of demonkind, coupled with the might of only a few terribly powerful demons in full control of their youkai energy, gave demons the strength to all but crush even the slightest chance of human resistance. The only issue that gave demonkind even the slightest pause in their complete dominion over their human counterparts was the fact that many humans steeped in the spiritual powers of ages long past, were not only immune to demon energy, but could utilize demon energy as a force against the demons. However, the humans with this potentially dangerous talent were few in numbers, as humanity had all but dismissed the ancient powers of old spirituality as mere myth and fancy, all while leaving themselves open to the attack of their powerful supernatural demonic foes.

While demons completely controlled every aspect of human society, they were still wary of the few humans with enough strength to counter their own youkai. Yet, even as they kept a cautious eye on this human trait, it also proved to be quite useful in helping powerful demons control and manipulate their youkai energy for a number of uses that ranged from ensuring the longevity of raw goods, to sharpening youkai defenses against neighboring warring demon powers by reinforcing volatile youkai barriers with stabilizing human spiritual energy.

Thus, humans with these special abilities were hired and given jobs as specialists in various youkai companies. The head youkai company involved in the training and handling of humans with spiritual ability, was currently located in New South Africa and headed by an ambitious lion demon Victor and his infamous sister, Liyah.

Liyah was known as a hard core negotiator for her brother's company and was a powerful lioness in her own right. Behind her back, she was known as an unapologetic man-eater who always got her way. Liyah's gorgeous outer appearance allowed her the means to charm most youkai companies into favorable agreements with LionCorps, while her deadly skill as a powerful demon capable of impressive control over her own energy, gave her other means of persuasion. It was the former of her methods of persuasion that had gotten Kouga into a load of trouble between her firm burnt honeyed legs.

After negotiating for the needs of LionCorp's human workers in Japan at WesternTaiyoukai, as well as, for the percentage of profit that would be given to LionCorp's for their cooperation with WesternTaiyoukai, Liyah had gone on to have a little fun teasing the cocky wolf demon. A few thinly veiled insults about his manhood and it's allegedly inability to stay hard through pleasuring women in the past, was all the invitation Kouga needed to throw company protocol out the window in his attempts to put the minx in her place. Some heated words and an intense physical scuffle later between the two resulted in Kouga pulling up the black pencil skirt that fitted her hot round ass perfectly and fucking that hot little kitten senseless right on his spacious office desk. Or maybe it was the other way around. She definitely was no submissive. That's for sure.

Kouga chuckled at that memory, yet frowned hard at the ramifications of that event. Sesshoumaru had damn near killed him! He'd never known pain like the pain Sess had inflicted on him in the annual major demon powers convening. The bastard had beaten him senseless and used his poison to slow down the process of healing, as well as to inflict more pain in his wounds. Talk about overkill! Just because Sess knew he'd heal in another couple of hours, didn't mean he had to be so damned cruel.

Yeah, he'd have to be a bit more careful with his cock from now on, as Sess seemed to be at the end of his patience on the matter. Plus, while Yura was a hot piece, she wasn't the best at being discrete about their fucking and was letting his sexual attention go to her head, not to mention her jealous tendencies. No doubt, it had gotten back to Sesshoumaru that Yura was causing tension between other human women on the job because she was jealous of his wandering eye. Where the hell the bitch got off thinking he'd be exclusively fucking her, he didn't know.

Ah well. Time to cut her off.

He'd long ago started directing his attention at somebody a bit quieter. That sweet little redhead down in human/youkai affairs had the hottest pink mouth. Kouga smirked. He was sure she'd be a bit quieter about a little office romp than Yura had been. He been thinking about seducing her for a while and to sweeten the deal on her end, for the past three months, he'd started increasing her pay. When he'd done the same to Yura and dropped a few casual hints about who was responsible for that pay bonus, she'd all but jumped him with little other persuation.

However, Red seemed like the shy type. Probably wouldn't be so easy. But he just knew she would probably be a real screamer in bed. He smirked, while thinking about various ways to corner her after hours about earning those "gifts" on her pay stubs.

* * *

"Jordan," Ayame whispered softly. She never wished to draw attention to herself, as it could prove to be potentially life threatening in their line of work. So she never spoke loudly at the workplace.

"Jordan," she whispered again.

Jordan shook herself out of her reverie on her financial woes. Still a bit distracted, she turned her brown eyes to Ayame who was looking at her expectedly.

"Yeah," she answered not softly, but without her usual coolness she reserved for nearly all the rest of her co-workers. She refused to run around whispering with her head bowed like many other human workers did in the presence of demons. They salivated at fear and both exaggerated cowering and explicit disrespect provoked demon violence against humans. Besides which, she'd be damned if she found herself constantly living in fear of the barbaric bastards. They could kiss every facet of her ass.

"How was your pay this time?" She inquired while biting her lip.

"Shitty as usual," Jordan replied, a wry smile tugging at her full lips. "What about yours?"

"I'm worried about it," Ayame offered, still biting her own pink lip. "Please don't tell anyone, but for the past three months my pay has gotten higher and higher. And I don't know what I've done to deserve it."

Jordan thought about this. It did seem a bit weird. "Maybe it's a glitch or something, Ayame. Try not to worry to much about it. But don't bring it to anyone's attention either."

Ayame nodded hanging on to every word she said, while Jordan was obviously muddling over the situation. She'd always viewed Jordan with awe. Everything about her screamed confidence and also a quiet sort of power and intelligence. And while her expressive brown eyes were often narrowed in cynical disdain behind the her dainty black frames and her pretty mahogany features were often fashioned in a look of contempt for others, no one else at the company had been as kind to her as Jordan had been.

Many others probably wouldn't have been able to withstand the stares and obvious looks thrown towards Jordan because of her unique features. She was 5'7 with a shape envied by most of the females at her job both youkai and human alike. She was full chested, and small waisted with deep curves that flared into an audaciously curved backside.

Regardless of her impressive physique, Jordan always dressed conservatively in black slacks and a soft black sweater knit, wearing the same outfit or very similar ones everyday, as she never seemed to want to bring more attention to herself, much less her body. However, her efforts were futile because she was simply too different from the other female co-workers due to her distinctly foreign features.

She had large slightly almond shaped eyes which were a brown so dark, they bordered on black and were framed by long thick lashes. These expressive eyes often glared from behind thin black framed glasses which sat neatly on her nose. A generous mouth with lush full lips were often bitten when she was deep in thought, or pulled back in an insulting smirk when on rare occasion challenged by assholes simply trying to test her. Every so often, there were few at the workplace that Jordan trusted enough to flash a vibrant smile to, which lit her pretty honey brown face in infectious ease and humor that could reassure those she trusted, even in the most dire of situations.

Being the type of woman Jordan was, she preferred comfort and practicality to style and so the riotous halo of jet black wild curls indigenous to the features of her people, was cropped boyishly close and all but shaved on her head. The cut caused her hair to form coils which curled at the nape of her neck and all over her head in soft curls, while the short look emphasized the fierce beauty of her natural features. If she was self-conscious about how different she looked from the rest of the people at WesternTaiyoukai in Tokyo, Japan, she gave no notice of it…at least not to anyone else, Ayame noted. As for herself, Ayame was extremely perceptive of the moods of people and knew that Jordan did seem uncomfortable at times about her distinctive features, even though she took efforts to make it seem otherwise.

Jordan glanced back at the clearly distressed red-head and smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure it's not a problem. Hell, I'd kill to have one of those "mistakes"," she said while making quote signs with her hands. "Or maybe it's compensation for emotional distress from interactions with The Big Easy," she said while tilting her head towards the direction of Yura, who was currently draped over Kouga's disinterested body. Instead, his gaze was directed towards two women, one with bright red hair and the other with honeyed skin.

Ayame giggled and then sighed. "Maybe you're right. I just don't understand why she doesn't like me. I've never done anything to her."

"Like bitches need a reason," Jordan replied while rolling her eyes. "I swear you're too optimistic about people Ayame, and stop letting her intimidate you. The more you let her get away with, the more she'll bother you. And she only does it because she jealous of you."

Ayame blushed. She knew that Kouga had began staring at her lately and the entire office knew what that generally resulted in when it came to the wolf demon's attentions.

"It's alright. I don't have to see her everyday anyway, only when I get here early. I'll just start coming later."

Jordan sighed, but nodded her head at Ayame still thinking about the various ways she'd put Yura in her place if she ever came to her with any stupidity. Demons already thought nothing of them as humans, and that stupid bitch served only to lower their race in the eyes of the monsters.

Meanwhile, Ayame just knew that Kouga was still watching her. It made her feel distinctly uncomfortable so she would make efforts to leave with the larger group of employees instead of working longer hours with Jordan today. She hadn't voiced her concerns to Jordan that Kouga's attention and the sudden raise in her paychecks might be connected, because she didn't want Jordan to become incensed, or possibly address the matter directly with the wolf demon. Jordan was just stubborn enough to do such a thing.

Meanwhile, Ayame abhorred confrontation and was more than content to avoid the situation until Kouga lost interest in her. He went through women like water and Ayame knew there were plenty of other women who were prettier who wouldn't blink at the thought of…having relations with the demon. She blushed just thinking about it and shook her head of those thoughts.

"Jordan, I'm going to leave early today. Will you be okay?" Ayame was speaking quickly as the large group of employees were starting to leave for the day and she wanted to be lost well within that group when she left.

"Of course. I'll see you next week," Jordan said noting the hurried actions of Ayame as she hoisted her bag on her small shoulder. The small red-head looked nervously to the side and saw that Kouga had started advancing towards the area she and Jordan shared.

"Oh and Jordan, don't forget to take your findings to Sesshoumaru-sama about your findings on spiritual energy." Ayame yelled that last bit out as she scrambled to make her way towards the elevator which led down to the main floor.

Confused caused Jordan to scrunch her face up, wondering why Ayame was in such a hurry all of a sudden. However, the predatory look on Kouga's face that she'd happened to notice when Ayame was rushing her goodbyes, explained it all. Now the horny bastard distractedly brushing Yura's advances off and was walking quickly towards Ayame's now panicked run towards the elevator.

"Not today dog dick," Jordan grumbled under her breath. She quickly took her report she had to deliver to Sesshoumaru and proceeded with a smooth interception.

"Kouga-sama, I was informed by Sesshoumaru-sama's assistant that these need to go to him directly after work," she stated in a clear professional manner.

He been about to step straight past the figure in front of him, until it, apparently it was a woman so she, mentioned Sesshoumaru's name. Knowing he was on thin ice with the cold demon lord, he whipped his attention away from the little redhead with the sweet ass and impatiently turned a glare to the woman in front of him.

"What the hell were you saying," he quipped rudely.

Jordan smirked inwardly, noticing the irritation in his eyes. She turned and followed his gaze just to see the elevator doors shutting on Ayame's relieved face filled with gratitude.

"I was informing you that this report needs to go to Sess-." She stopped, feigning confusion. Meanwhile Kouga was openly glaring.

"Well, ningen," he demanded.

He was highly irritated that he'd have to wait until next week to talk with Red about all the ways she could earn those extra monthly bonuses, all because of this absent-minded bitch. Yeah she was more than a little easy on the eyes and with a body like the one she was tryin to hide underneath all that black she was wearing, Kouga wouldn't have minded getting in her. But her honeyed complexion reminded him way too much of another dark femme fatale that had almost gotten him killed, so he quelled those thoughts and that left him only with irritation that Red's sweet piece of ass had gotten away from him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir. This is the report that was shown to him last week. I must have gotten them mixed up. I'm sorry to have bothered you. I was requested to take this report to Sesshoumaru-sama personally." She looked up at him innocently. "Were you in a hurry?"

Kouga gave her a glare that would have shaken most humans and many demons to their core.

"Yes I was _ningen_." He all but spat the word. "See that you don't interrupt me for meaningless bullshit again."

"Of course sir," Jordan said curtly and turned quickly as she wasn't sure her face could hide her disgust for him any longer. Let him think she was shocked or trying to make a quick retreat, rather than to see the blatant disdain for him and others of his kind who dared to hypocritically admonish the human race for their passions, all while barely restraining themselves from all but raping their co-workers at the workplace.

However, Jordan smiled briefly at her antics which had spared the smaller woman, but then frowned at the situation the introverted red-head had inadvertently fell into. At least Ayame got away unscathed…this time. The poor thing. No wonder she'd been so worried about the mysterious raise in her wages. Mystery fucking solved. The prick! She just knew he was going to try and blackmail Ayame into having sex with him. Unfortunately, there was little she could do and she just hoped Ayame hadn't spent the money from the past months, so that she could offer it back if it did indeed come to that.

Meanwhile, she had her own problems to deal with, not the least of which was one last confrontation with the prick of all pricks, Sesshoumaru. She hadn't lied to Kouga about the report, as the superiors from the fields had commanded her to take her findings to Sesshoumaru directly. Meetings with the cold and arrogant demon lord were always incredibly tense.

Most of the time, she was able to skillfully mask her anger at the superior airs demons took in their disregard for humans and human weakness. It was a useful tool in this new world where demons ruthlessly squashed even the slightest sign of insolence.

However, there was something about the demon lord. Something that really got underneath her skin about him and his lofty conceited tone in which he addressed her.

She found it impossible to disguise her revulsion and if she didn't know any better the demon lord seemed to wish to bait her at times, seemed to want to bring that out of her. Was he testing her? She wasn't stupid. While she was quite powerful in her own right, she knew well her limitations, and they stopped well before reaching Sesshoumaru's extraordinary powers. So on each rare occasion that she was required to report to him, she could do nothing but stand in his presence fuming at his open disregard for everything regarding her species, helpless to defend her race lest she anger the powerful lord. The meetings set her on edge for days afterwards and it seemed to be one of few recurring jokes about her around the office that the dark ningen female was angered by Sesshoumaru-sama.

She looked at the clock. 4:45. He would expect her promptly in the next 10 minutes and there would be hell to pay if she was late. Taking her frames off and rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly, she left them on her desk and walked to the elevator. She smirked to herself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time.

Maybe she could even ask for a raise in her salary that could cover the difference in her outrageous rent.

And maybe Kouga hadn't chased Ayame down with the full intention of fucking her on his well used desk.

Yeah day after day, this demon world was just full of possibilities…eh?

* * *

Flames, suggestions, plot bunnies. I take them all.

Thanks for reading.

Sonflour


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